Why Sit-ups, Curl-ups and Crunches Do More Harm than Good

You Want Top-Rate Abdominals

You want ab muscles that others will view with envy.

But my experience as a doctor of chiropractic has taught me one thing: a lot of the abdominal exercises people do are at best a waste of time. And at worst, they cause harm to the low back.

Sit-ups, curl-ups and crunches are the main culprits.

Any time you perform an exercise that involves bending the torso (in medical terminology they call this trunk flexion) you're activating the rectus abdominis.

The rectus abdominis is the surface muscle of the abdomen. It connects the front of your rib cage to the pelvis. Sure, the rectus abdominis will flex your trunk. But it also puts more pressure on your low back and can make disc problems worse.

And you may not be achieving the desired flattened stomach look, either.

If you over-bulk the rectus abdominis, your stomach, paradoxically, will bulge out due to the excess muscle mass you're building.

That's why you should steer clear of sit-ups, curl-ups, crunches, ab rollers, and ab machines in the gym.

Fortunately, there are other muscles of the abdomen that lie below the rectus abdominis – the external and internal obliques and the transversus abdominis .

These deeper-lying muscles are anchored to your lower ribs on the sides. In the front they connect to a stiff sheet of connective tissue - the abdominal wall.

Most athletic trainers think that activating your oblique muscles causes your body to twist. So they prescribe rotating sit-ups (or the like) to strengthen these muscles. But that's not the main thing these muscles do. Instead, they suck the abdominal wall backward, flattening your stomach.

Strengthening your oblique and transverse abdominals is important to

• Support and organize posture
• Provide a solid, strong base for all other exercises activities
• Take the pressure off your back to protect it from harm, and
• Flatten your stomach area.

The oblique and transverse abdominals are the most important stomach muscles to train.

When these muscles are strong, your abdominal wall is flatter. And every other exercise you do - whether for the upper body or lower body - will be more effective if you've got strong obliques.

What's the best way to train the obliques and transversus?

The plank pose is a simple and effective way to train these muscles. It seems simple (and it is) but it's harder than it looks.

I've had many patients come to see me and brag that they perform 100 sit-ups every morning before breakfast. But many of the same people were too weak to hold a plank pose for 30 seconds.

Once it's easy for you to hold a basic plank pose for 30 seconds or more, there are a number of variations that can make it harder - performing it on a downward slant, lifting one leg, using a large gym-ball, and many more.

You never have to torture your back with a sit-up or curl-up again.